Can I keep you?
by KakaoBird
Summary: Small AU fic on what could have been, and never was. Rated for character death.


She asked him for the first time when they were small.

He'd dreaded the question ever since.

"Can I keep you?" She'd said, her voice childish and her eyes gleaming, waiting. He'd Looked at her, thinking she had been mad. He never answered.

But she'd never stopped asking. It was almost tradition by the time they started high school; "Can I keep you?" As he got older, he started to loathe the way she made him sound like a pet - a dog, perhaps to be kept in chains for the rest of his life?

When he had met Her, one would have thought she'd stopped asking - he certainly had!

But she didn't. She was there everyday, when he came home from his most recent outing with Her, asking the same question. "Can I keep you?"

He still didn't answer. It was a silly question, and silly questions didn't deserve answers. He was better than that.

He'd cried when She broke up with him. But the girl had been there to comfort him. He'd sneered at her, told her she didn't know what heartbreak was. And she'd looked at him with those blue, blue eyes of her, and for once she hadn't asked the question. He'd been grateful deep down, really. But on the surface, the only thing that mattered was his battered and bruised ego. He ignored her, after all, she wasn't worthy, was she?

She left him alone for a while after that. Not for long though.

About a month later, she started the tradition again. "Can I keep you?" He still didn't answer her; ignored her, as he'd sworn to himself he'd do.

It didn't take long for Her to realise her mistake however, and he was soon otherwise preoccupied - he no longer even noticed her daily question. The dates with Her were more and more often, and soon he had proposed to Her; She was whom he wanted to spend all of his eternity with.

Again, she had asked the question. "Can I keep you?" And for some reason, in that moment, he pitied her - did she not know he was engaged to the love of his life? His soul mate, the person who mattered most to him in all of this world?

But case in fact, he never did answer her question that day.

The wedding was fast approaching, and even then, she continued her tradition; their tradition. "Can I keep you?"

She was at the wedding, he remembered seeing her in the back of the church. She'd stared at him, and in all of that church, her stare was the only thing he knew. His mind was numb as he said his 'I do', but his heart was dancing with joy.

She'd somehow managed to snatch him away from the others at the party - and he still did not know how she got in. It was a private reception, after all.

And she'd asked him again, and he'd thought he was ready to answer. "Can I keep you?" But somehow, his answer never came. He left her waiting in that dark corner, in the otherwise light and joyful party - her eyes became too much. She knew the answer, he knew. How could she not? He had just married another woman!

She left him alone for years after that; moved away, to where he would never know. He forgot her, slowly and steadily. She had been a constant in his life, but that was all she had been after they had grown up; a constant.

She bore him 3 children. All beautiful and healthy, and he loved Her even more for it. He knew that he loved Her with all of his soul, and all of his mind - how could he not?

He was older when he saw her again, more weary, but nonetheless happy. Not about seeing her, no; he seemed to be in a constant state of happiness nowadays, his youngest daughter just haven gotten accepted into a prestigious high school, his other children happy and satisfied, his wife lovelier than ever. He hadn't recognised her, but she'd easily recognised him. She'd gone up to him, right there and then, on the busy street, and she'd looked him in the eyes. He knew that he had looked confused, for he had been quite perplexed as to why a stranger would do something like that. As he finally got around to saying something, she interrupted him. "Can I keep you?"

And he knew. As he furrowed his brow, he looked at the girl who seemed to him ageless with her blue, blue eyes. And he could not answer.

He had grown up since he had last seen her, he fancied. So he decided to be courteous, as it was expected by a man of his reputation and station to be, and invited his oldest childhood memory home for dinner. She had looked at him, but eventually she had come around to accepting.

His wife had loved her like a sister. After that first dinner, she often turned up at their doorstep, never having been invited. But She took her in as if she were a drowning kitten needing Her help.

He'd expected her to be jealous, to lash out at Her. To be angry, to stop coming.

But she wasn't. There was always a certain fondness in her eyes when she talked with Her, even though She did most of the talking, he later remembered.

His children had treated her as an aunt, a long, long lost aunt of whom they'd never met. And who knew, perhaps they even believed that to be the truth?

But she had still asked. "Can I keep you?" And he had still not answered her. Why not, he asked himself. He knew the answer, so why? It was to remain an unsolved mystery however, having to give up the spotlight for another problem. And then another, and another, and quite frankly, he never got around to answering her.

It had been the day of his youngest daughter's graduation, that much was clear still. He never got around to figuring out what had happened to her, not really. His wife and the children knew, and they were the only ones with any attachment to her, he figured. Why bother?

He had never gone to her grave, either. And he never would have, had it not been for his wife and children. As it were, She gave him a reproachful look and told him that he was obligated to at least once visit her grave.

So he went. He would've never rejected his wife's wishes, and if this meant so much to Her, then he'd go. He'd asked when was the best time for Her, and she'd looked at him and told him that he should go alone.

He never went.

He should have.

_Kagome Higurashi_

_1951 - 1999_

_I knew your answer._

**_A.N:_** oo Let it be said that I have absolutely no idea where this cam from. It's an AU, and the 'main character' would probably be Inuyasha, even though he's pretty OOC (in my opinion). :3 And yes, the capital front letters that I sometimes add to 'her' or 'she' actually has a purpose! -insert dramatic drum roll- KIKYOU! As I think she might've been, had life been a little more fair to her. It's a bit hard writing without including names, which is why I've used the capital letters. See? It makes perfect sense!

Think it's horrible? Good? Feel the unbearable need to correct my mistakes? Go right ahead and review! X3

Disclaimer: Doesn't belong to me. :3


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